As esshup suggested de-barbing a hook by crimping the barb goes a long way towards doing less damage. Having been an avid flyfisherman and flytyer for much of my adult life, I have a wide variety of hooks. I like a small hook with a long shank and so hooks like this are commonly used to tie streamer flies. Good alternatives are Aberdeen and/or what are commonly called "cricket" or "live bait" hooks. When you have a long shanked hook the shank protrudes from the mouth and this makes it easy to handle. If it is de-barbed you can just roll the hook back in the direction of where the hook is engaged and the hook will slide out with the tip facing the rear of the fish. Badabing no harm ... no foul.

If you are using live bait, straight line or use a sensitive bobber (smaller the better). BG can be somewhat subtle in a take, inspecting first, then slurping it in. This slurping telegraphs down the line and will disturb the bobber. Aside from catching a few extra large BG it will also reduce the number of deep hooks. The disturbance, is different than small BG nibbling at the bait. If you watch carefully, you will learn the difference.

A really big fish that you really, really want to live doesn't need to be lifted from the water. The propensity to mortality is strongly tied to the time the fish spends out of the water. The impact is greater in higher water and air temperatures. So don't spend to long admiring fish out of the water and more will stand a better chance to fight another day.

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers